The Mayor’s Corner 09/20/2023

Mayor Randy Hibberd

Wow! Talk about realizing that you’re old! I survived my 50th High School Class Reunion this last weekend.
It was great to see the people I had spent my high school years going to classes, playing sports, playing in band, and just plain goofing around with.
The interesting thing about going to reunions is that the older you get the less comparing or being compared with others is done. There is less sense of competition seeing where each other is in their careers and lives. At this point, what really matters is that people are healthy and life is going well.
A 50th reunion is one of those milestones in life that makes a person stop and pay attention. First, that we’ve made it this far. Second, that time and ability are on the downhill slope (Hopefully the ability hangs in there. Can’t do anything about the time other than use it wisely.) Third, that there were too many in our class who had already left this life.
So, this weekend was a good time catching up with people I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was also a time of reflection about life, friendships, and what we have to be thankful for.
Part of my thankfulness has to do with you as members of the City of Weiser. I am thankful that you have allowed me to be your mayor. I am also thankful that as long as at least one person votes for me and there are no write-in challenges, I will continue to be your mayor for another four years. You help keep my mind sharp and I feel privileged to serve you. THANK YOU!
And now onto City business.
Ron McDaniel, working in the Street Department, is telling me that they will be patching streets furiously from now until they can no longer get asphalt or that they have all the patching done. Normally, the Street Department would spend the summer working on patching as soon as the weather warmed up enough to keep the asphalt workable. However, with the infrastructure dollars currently injected into the economy, the asphalt companies have struggled to keep up with the large projects, let alone producing small batches for patching.
So, now that the asphalting season is winding down and asphalt is available, the Street Department is repairing as much road as possible while we can.
Speaking of street maintenance, if you would like to see what 1,700 tons and $46,000 of rock looks like, just take a look at the pile of gravel on State Street just north of the Hillcrest Road cutoff to the highway. The City purchased this to be used next year for doing much needed chip sealing on streets in town.
It has been around ten years since the City has done chip sealing and we are behind. The reason for postponing this maintenance was to accumulate enough funds for the City’s grant match to upgrade W. 9th Street. Once that project was done, it has taken some time to save enough funds to buy rock (which is almost double the cost of when we last purchased as sizable load.) So, next year we will begin chip sealing.
I know that a newly chip sealed road is not pleasant to drive on, but it sure does extend the life of the road and is much less expensive than new asphalt.
In other news, Timbra Long, the Head Librarian, wants all of the kids to know that Friday, September 29 from 11:00 to 1:00 the Library will be showing The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Free popcorn will be available. So, if you are kid, come on out and enjoy the movie with your friends! (When Timbra spoke of this in our weekly management meeting, I had to keep telling everyone this was for the kids, just the kids, only the kids!)
Also, you may be interested to know that Pickleball lines have now been painted on two of the Memorial Park tennis courts. If you are one of those interested in this game, go pickle away and have fun!
Well, that’s it for this week! Weiser really is a great place to live, work, and play.